The Cooling Stream

My late mother especially loved and obsessed with flowers of all kinds. She would withstand the scorching sun and brave the pouring rain just because of her strong and strange desires to take good care of the flowers. Sometimes she got too tired and too sick because of tending the flowers. But the moment she became strong and healthy, you would see her diligently and carefully tending her flower gardens. We were worried for her at times, but as it was, she had found the love of her life with flowers.

I remembered every time when I visited her, bringing her beloved flower pots, she would speak to me and my family cheerfully and enthusiastically the different species of flowers, what she had and what she really loved and desired to have. She would stir up in our hearts the desires to plant flowers in our compound. And she made sure that we brought some beautiful flowers back in exchange for more flower pots during our next visits. My wife especially enjoyed her visits to her mother-in-law and she deeply grieved at her demise, and she cried bitterly.

My mother would explain to us clearly and slowly her experiences and varied skills with different species of flowers. You could see the sparkle and the wonder in her eyes and you would enjoy her ever ready broad smiles. Sometimes we just stayed mesmerized for quite a long time in the midst of the beautiful flower garden. It was a well worth lecture on flowers that still swim in my mind sometimes when I think of her.

My mother would travel far and long journeys just to get hold of the flowers of her dreams. And she was even willing to pay more for her love. She would be thrilled and ecstatic the moment she had her flowers in her hands, and she would shout and scream and cry with joy unspeakable and full of pride. Oh! such a passion.

Now as I recall my mother and her love for flowers, I wish I have her passion for my work. A little patience, a little love, a little kindness, a little care, a little smile, a little talk with flowers, and in no time the flowers of your dreams will grow and blossom and fill your world.

Then I discover and understand her secret: She is contented in her simple lifestyle with the flowers.

Yeah, "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Timothy 6:6).